The most exciting time of the year has finally arrived. It’s awards season! Today, I’m pleased to reveal the nominations for the upcoming 2026 Cranky Network Awards presented by Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The ceremony which honors the best in airline network planning will be on February 19 in the Valley of the Sun for invited guests. If you aren’t on the list, you can still follow along on social media where we’ll post the winners live. Look for more details on that as the event draws closer.
Let’s get into this year’s nominees, listed in alphabetical order for each category.
Sexiest New Route – Short-Haul presented by Embraer
For the sexiest new route under 3,000 miles
- American from Phoenix to Santa Maria (CA)
- Avianca from Quito to San Cristóbal
- Contour from Denver to Taos
- Southwest from Las Vegas to Anchorage
- WestJet from Halifax to Lisbon
Sexiest New Route – Long-Haul presented by Airbus
For the sexiest new route over 3,000 miles
- Air Canada from Montréal to Palma de Mallorca
- Air Transat from Montréal to Agadir (Morocco)
- JetBlue from Boston to Milan/Malpensa
- Delta from New York/JFK to Olbia
- United from Newark to Split
Most Clever Flight Number presented by John Glenn Columbus International Airport
- Alaska 49/50 connecting Anchorage and Honolulu in the 49th and 50th states
- Alaska 180 from Seattle to Rome for the standard 180ml cappuccino cup
- Flair 2821 from Vancouver to Mexico City for the tram between Terminals 2 and 1 in MEX going 28 mph
- United 207 from San Francisco to Adelaide for the world’s longest one way road at 20.7km
- WestJet 555 from Sudbury to Calgary for the world’s largest nickel
Best Airport Partner
As nominated by the airlines themselves
- Chris Hedlin from Calgary
- Kristen Behm from Chattanooga
- Nate Lavin from Salt Lake City
Best New Destination
For a new destination not previously served from the US and Canada (in recent times)
- American to Budapest (Hungary)
- Delta to Malta
- United to Adelaide (Australia)
- United to Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
- WestJet to Cardiff (Wales)
Best Schedule Design
- Alaska for its re-banking in Portland
- American for moving DFW from nine to 13 banks
- Avelo for making New Haven function with an increase in capacity
- Southwest for banking for connections in Chicago, Denver, Nashville, and St Louis
- United for its Hong Kong scissor hub to serve Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City
Most Promising New Partnership presented by Pittsburgh International Airport
For the most promising new partnership in the US or Canada
- Allegiant and Viva for their proposed joint venture which will keep being nominated until the government actually does something about it
- American and Porter for their new codeshare agreement
- Delta (+ JV partners) and Indigo for their memorandum of understanding
- JetBlue and Brightline for selling connecting Brightline tickets via the JetBlue website
- JetBlue and United for their Blue Sky loyalty and interline partnership
La Asociación Nueva Más Prometedora
For the most promising new partnership in Latin America (north of the equator)
- Avianca and Aerolineas Argentinas for their codeshare agreement
- Copa and WestJet for their interline agreement
- Viva and Aerus for their codeshare agreement
- Viva and Allegiant for their proposed joint venture which will keep being nominated until the government actually does something about it
- Viva and Volaris for their merger under a single holding company
Calculated Risk Award
- Alaska for its repositioning of resources from LAX/SFO to Portland and San Diego
- American for its attempt to re-grow and compete at O’Hare
- Avelo for exiting its original West Coast network
- Frontier for its aggressive move on Atlanta
- Spirit for dramatically shrinking its network to try to reach profitability
Best Aircraft-Enabled Opportunity
For the best opportunity that couldn’t be served either economically or operationally without newer generation aircraft
- Air Canada for Montréal to Palma de Mallorca on the A321XLR
- American for Charlotte to Aspen on the CRJ-700
- Porter for Ottawa to Liberia on the Embraer 195-E2
- United for Newark to Santiago de Compostela on the 737-8 MAX
- WestJet for Toronto to Cardiff on the B737-8 MAX
La Red Más Mejorada
The most improved network for Latin American airlines (north of the equator)
- Aeromexico
- Arajet
- Avianca
- Viva
- Volaris
Most Improved Network presented by Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
The most improved network for US and Canadian airlines
- Alaska
- Breeze
- JetBlue
- Spirit
- United
In addition, we have our usual “lifetime-achievement” style winners which will be announced for:
- Irving Tague Secondary Airport Award presented by Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport for the greatest growth in secondary airports
- La Victoria de la Red awarding the excellent performance of a specific part of the network in Latin America
- Network Victory Award for the excellent performance of a specific part of the network in the US or Canada
- Route Victory Award for the excellent performance of a single route in the US or Canada
Lastly, we are proud to announce that we are awarding our very first Lifetime Elite Status award to John Kirby who recently retired from as VP of Network Planning at Spirit after a long carrier ranging from Northwest, USAir, and AirTran to Southwest and Alaska.
And that is the full list! Go ahead and puts your snubs and surprises down in the comments.
